Ice

2 cups sugar ? cup water ? cup lime juice Zest of 2 limes Cream of coconut, to drizzle     1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, water, lime juice and lime zest. Heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool completely. Refrigerate until ready to use. 2. To use with shaved ice, drizzle a bit of the syrup over a cone or bowl of ice, then drizzle cream of coconut over the top. Alternatively, to make granita, stir another 1 ?

NEWARK, N.J. - Devils coach Jacques Lemaire didn't bring it up until he was asked by a reporter. He wasn't complaining, not exactly. He was merely telling a reporter what he believed he saw - that is, that the Flyers had too many men on the ice during the sequence when Mike Richards scored their second goal in their 2-1 victory over New Jersey. "It was too many men at a certain time," Lemaire said. "It was up to be called. You know, this game goes fast. There's a lot of things going on. Sometimes you're missing it, and nothing you can do. I did miss it myself when it happened.

The field for the International Figure Skating Championship, a pro-am event to be held tonight and tomorrow at the Spectrum, shifted again yesterday. Oksana Gritschuk and Evgeny Platov, the Olympic champion ice dancers, withdrew because of illness, and Philippe Candeloro, a skater in the men's division, exited because of a prior commitment. Mark Mitchell, who was fourth at the 1993 World Championships, has been added to the men's field, and Caryn Kadavy to the ladies' field.

When the Flyers left Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon, they had two question marks: Turner Stevenson's aching right knee and Petr Nedved's aching right groin, injuries suffered in Monday's overtime win over the New York Rangers. Josh Gratton was called up from the Phantoms in case one of the Flyers veterans was unable to play last night against the Buffalo Sabres. Both wound up playing. But given all the groin injuries among Flyers players this season - Peter Forsberg remains sidelined with a left groin strain - Nedved's injury bears close watching.

Hockey-starved fans should hoist a brew or iced tea to ESPN. With the NHL and its players glaring at each other in the current league shutdown, ESPN is showing the classic USA-Soviet Union "Miracle on Ice" game from the 1980 Olympics tonight at 8:30. The Americans upset the heavily favored Soviets in Lake Placid, N.Y., then beat Finland to clinch the gold medal. Al Michaels's tingling "Do you believe in miracles?" comment in the game's final seconds vaulted him into national prominence.

The ever-resourceful Disney folks have come up with yet another hook to lure audiences to the annual "World on Ice" holiday extravaganza, opening at the Spectrum Dec. 26: Give the customers two shows in one. The first segment of the production is set on a tropical island with Disney characters menaced by a dastardly pirate. In the second part, Roger Rabbit brings movies to life on ice with his "amazing" new video machine. In both cases, trouble ensues. A professional cast of ice skaters will make all this possible, with happy endings for all, no doubt.

Forget the frilly summer weddings. Heading into the Valentine's Day weekend, some Philadelphia couples took the opportunity to take their wedding vows on ice at the rink at Penn's Landing. Mayor Rendell officiated the ceremony, which was not just for first-timers. Many of the couples were there to renew their wedding vows. Yesterday's mild afternoon weather served as a perfect backdrop for the annual event.

Eskimo whalers and marine biologists yesterday carved a chain of air holes for three ice-bound gray whales, but the battered sea mammals showed little inclination to follow the holes north toward open water. In an effort to open more holes in the Arctic ice, the Alaska National Guard began to punch a 10,000-pound, cement-and-steel cone into the ice from a helicopter. But by midafternoon, with the sun hanging low on the horizon and the wind- chill temperature hovering around 20 below zero, the whales remained just offshore, bobbing continuously for air in a hole not much bigger than a typical living room.

A woman and three children died yesterday after they fell into an ice- covered lake in Northampton County, authorities said. Carol Strunk, 28, of Bangor, her two children, April, 9, and Jared, 5, and April's friend, Sarah Bowers, 8, of East Bangor, fell through Minsi Lake about 150 yards from shore about 2:30 p.m., Upper Mount Bethel Township police said. The lake, in the Minsi area of Bear Swamp about 15 miles north of Easton, is a popular ice-fishing and skating spot. The four victims were not wearing ice skates but may have been "slip- sliding on the ice," said Patrolman Marlon Nasatka of the Upper Mount Bethel Township Police.

With another wintry mix of snow, sleet and rain bearing down on the city, Mayor Nutter acknowledged yesterday what the public knows too well: Icy conditions on a number of city streets remain, in the mayor's words, "very, very challenging. " He blamed the weather. "This was just a very unusual storm," the mayor told reporters about last week's snow-to-rain-to-snow combination. "If this were just 15 inches of nice, kind-of-fluffy snow, we wouldn't be having this conversation. " In fact, what wasn't immediately plowed quickly turned into a rock-hard, plow-resistant pack of snow and ice on many of the city's narrow streets.